Another day working on the Virtual Knockout project. Yesterday the focus was directed on preparing for the experiments, because the day after tomorrow they will take place. A few things needed to be arranged to make these preparations. For instance we started scouting for some volunteers who want to participate in the tests. Furthermore we tried some of the tests ourselves to determine the time spent with each participant. This for planning everyone in a schedule to prevent them from coming all at the same time. It was also to check if we had chosen the right order of procedures that we wrote down in a protocol and if there was something missing from it. We found out that it would probably take about 20 minutes for each person to get instructions, getting put on the markers for the motion tracking and doing the actual tests. That means it will a least take us a whole day to obtain enough data.

A lot of problems have been encountered and solved thus far, but yesterday we walked into a major issue. Last time we already found it, but at at the end of the day so we didn’t had any time to look into it. To synchronize both the data from the videos and those coming from the experiments we wanted to use a normal video (HD quality) which shows each test from every person. With the help of this video we thought we could bring the motion track data from the prerecorded videos and from the experiments in sync. The normal video unfortunately has a delay causing to run a few frames behind the motion track data. The video is still usable as an extra tool to see what movement has been made if it’s not clear from the motion track data alone. The synchronisation might still work with the video if we are able to exactly determine how many frames it’s running behind. The amount of frames can than be calculated into fractions of seconds with the known framerate in which the video has been shot. The question that arises here is will the accuracy of the test be compromised or not. The problem is that we cannot think about this too long, because of the deadline before which the experiments have to be finished. This is upcoming thursday around 19:00. The deadline is caused by equipment that is borrowed and need to be given back by the next day. If decided that the video isn’t suitable for the synchronisation part we have to come up with another solution after doing the experiments.

Today we will check the last videos that are converted into playable movies for the 4k display. After that, it’s finishing the last preparations for the experiments so the next day we can keep on going without any delay.

Last monday we had another meeting. We discussed how we are going to progress. Before talking about that there is some explanation required. In a certain stage of the project we are going to do some experiments with test persons. There are three different pre-recorded videos which will be shown in three different resolutions. The persons who will see this video individually have to physically react on what is happening in the video. The movement is recorded with the help of motion capture technology. The movements in the videos have also been recorded by the same technology. So when both the data of the videos as well as the data from the experiments are put side by side the reaction time can be retrieved. This is what we are really after. Before we can execute the experiments we needed and still need to overthink certain aspects. One of these aspects is writing a protocol on how to do the experiments. Are the test persons going to see all three different videos on three different resolutions or just one video on three different resolutions. Is it useful to let the people do a try out first to let them get used to the setup or not. Those kind of questions need to be answered first before that protocol can be written. Another aspect that need to be looked at is how to synchronize the data from the videos and experiments. Will it be done manually or automatically. By software or hardware. So more questions. What the hard part about this all is that there is not really a good or wrong answer, because its all research. Along the way we probably find out if our chosen approach is the best way or not. Next time chances are high that we can post about the direction the project will be going.

Today was the first meeting. The problem that we are going to research was explaned to us. The main objective is to find out if the screen resolution (quality) has any influence on the reaction time of people who have to react on what is happening on the screen. The results might be useful for example during videoconferences where people need more interaction than verbal communication alone, but also need to see what is happening on the other side. The research will be done with the use of motion capture technology. So the first step we took today was getting familiar with the soft and hardware of this technology. We also prepared a plan for what to do next so that we can identify the different problems that will be facing to find an answer on the main question. After that we divided a few tasks among ourselves like typing out the planning we made, fixing a small problem with the motion capture hardware, putting the problem in words and writing it down and writing a piece for this blog. So that is what we did today. The next meeting will be on monday where a lot of new stuff will be happening which probably will be described here by means of a new post.